Occultic;Nine Episode 06 Review: She Took a Long Cold Look

And we’re back for an episode that brings more questions on top of many more questions – just when we thought we’re finally onto something coherent! Occultic;Nine just loves luring us in with them. Well, what else can we expect from a mystery anime, right? The charm of the latest episode for me, however, was the creepiness level going up! Now, this is a thriller!

Japanese Original Episode Title: アンタの方だったんだね

Plot

Remember that during my previous review, I mentioned there’s this creepypasta titled Kotoribakoand wondered if it’s related with the one in Ririka’s doujin? Turns out it is, and the scary kid we keep seeing was trying to build it – the same creepy kid Chi-chan last saw! And then, we’re introduced to a group of people who seemed to have a hand in all of these incidents, all while treating people’s lives as an experiment. Like I said, questions upon questions! We’re already half in the season, and it feels like we’re so close to the answer, yet still so far. It’s so exciting!

Episode Highlights

Most would probably agree with me that the most striking part of the episode was Myu and the others finally meeting the creepy kid, along with the kotoribako. They just learned that the puzzle box was used to curse other people, so finding it’s real was a huge shocker for them. But, surprise surprise, there’s more! Myu’s lost friend, Chi, has finally been found – in the kotoribako and in the worst way anybody would want to find someone. To top it off, it seemed like the creepy child made a mistake: Myu was supposed to be the sacrifice! That is way too messed up! The box seemed to be alive too, so it looks like the boy’s attempt has a real supernatural bearing.

I thought it was already so thrilling to see Gamon, Sarai, Ryo-tas, and Myu work so hard to get the answer, but Aria’s arrival at the cafè made me even more excited! Everyone’s so close to getting together! It was also so fun to see Sarai scolding Gamon like they were already good friends, and how he was trying to negate the existence of black magic and the devil. As expected of Mister Logic!

On the other hand, I think it’s worthy to note that Kusakabe seemed to know Izumin. Plus, the shop manager acted quite oddly. Everyone was spouting nonsense and frantically headed outside. His shop lights just exploded too! But he just went to the back nonchalantly. Does he know something?

From what I understood from the discussions of the big-shot adults involved in the New World System, their group’s trying to synchronize the spirit and physical worlds in order to gain eternal life. They were also responsible for the death of the 256 people found in the lake, though they were connecting it with cryptic terms like ‘first generation’ and ‘bugs’, like it’s part of a huge experiment. What’s with that? Every single time people try to grab hold of immortality, something goes incredibly wrong! Guess we’ll have to see how this thing blows in everyone’s faces.

The last highlight is a question most of us would love to have the answer to immediately: why in the world is Gamon’s name in the list of the 200 identified casualties and in the list he deciphered?

Themes & Trivia

Star of Life – Does the logo of the New World System, the red insignia with six snakes enclosed in a circle, look familiar? It resembles the logo of paramedics or ambulances, only that the Star of Life is blue and only has one snake that’s entwined on a staff called the Rod of Asclepius. The New World System also deals with health and life, albeit with huge differences in how, so it kinda makes sense that they’d base their logo on this popular symbol.

Immortality – This is one of the most common goals of antagonists in stories, along with becoming the most powerful being, or taking over the world. But, as always, Occultic;Nine put a very unique twist on it: the organization seemed to want this for the good of everyone, so humans can truly exceed their life span. Plus, usually the villains just look for the fountain of youth or to transfer their consciousness into new vessels. But here, they’re trying to gain hold of the whole spirit world in a scientific way!

Comments

The fast paced dialogues came back in this episode, and twice as much as the previous ones! I barely even had time to register a sentence when they’d go on to the next point. The conversations between the men, as well as Moritsuka’s deduction, felt like three paragraphs worth of lines squeezed into sixty seconds. I can understand if that’s the style the production team wants to take, but it’s quite hard to appreciate what’s happening if you keep missing out the smallest details, especially in a mystery story.

Another sad thing is that the scene directions felt kind of lazy this time. They were mostly just panning backgrounds during the long scenes. The previous episodes had the same direction, but to a lesser extent. Maybe this is the sixth episode’s oddity? I guess it’s a huge favor for those who read subtitles like myself, since we’d only have to focus on reading. But for those who don’t need to, it really could get a bit boring. The scene between Moritsuka and Aria was a bit dizzying too.

To the new world

Despite my negative comments on the pacing and the scene directions, I think we can all say that this episode still was amazing in terms of the story. Plus, during the post-credits (always check after the ending song!), a new character was shown! She was actually already shown briefly during the opening sequence if you look closely. I can’t wait to know who she is!

Got any ideas on who she might be? Or do you think I didn’t mention something that’s also important? Do leave a comment below! Don’t forget to check the rest of our Fall 2016 reviews here at Manga.Tokyo!